Sweetfern, Comptonia peregrina, is neither sweet nor a fern, but is one of my favorite plants. It looks like something the dinosaurs would have walked through, and smells like all the warmest, spiciest, most magical aromas of imagination.

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

mullein

When I photographed this mullein plant,

it was only moments away from losing it's light layer of frost.

Can you see it?

The morning sun was just coming up through the trees, so plants close to the ground were still coated with frost. The trees were intercepting the sun rays, and frost on hemlock needles and beech leaves was sparkling and literally disappearing before my eyes. Melted frost dripped from the tips of beech leaves faster than I could focus on an individual droplet.

This particular mullein plant has given me a lot of pleasure this year.

It grew in the Very Raised Bed, so I walked by often and stopped to admire it many, many times.

You may already know that mullein is a biennial plant. The first year there is a rapidly-growing basal rosette of thick, fuzzy "bunny ears."

(That may sound twee or childish, but I defy anyone to see that first rosette of mullein leaves in the Spring and not think of soft furry ears.)
The second year, the plant produces it's impressive stalk and flowers. I find mullein visually interesting at all stages of it's life, and all year round.

Mullein is always a popular plant with pollen-gatherers.

This one had frequent visitors:

I did an ink-and-watercolor drawing based on that same cluster of blossoms. Can you tell I was drawing a stalk that was far over my head?

The big soft leaves and sunny flowers made me smile so many times all through the summer. And come next Spring, I'll hope to find new mullein plants, offspring of this one, sprouting nearby.

15 comments:

Isn't it funny - the mullein is considered to be an evil invader here in CO so I rarely stop to look at it closely (before attempting to pull it out of the ground). I can see the beauty in your photos and drawing - it truly is pretty. Isn't it funny how the label given to something colors our view of it?

Yes, I had to overcome an ingrained reaction before I could appreciate the images of starlings posted on twitter, by folks who live in the European Starling's native region!I didn't know mullein forms persistent invasive colonies in some places - thanks for sharing that info.

Well, I bet you see it now that you'll be looking for it! It rises several feet above most other vegetation in marginal and disturbed habitats. And those stalks persist through the winter - even more noticeable in snow.

Thanks so much for naming it. I was racking what's left of my brains to remember it. Very familiar here, but not a pest. Coming from a country where honeysuckle was loved and drawn and painted and collected for school tables, I was surprised to find it's considered a pest here. Morning glory is planted and enjoyed here in the eastern us and a scourge in the pNw where they don't get killing frosts. It all depends on where you are and what you farm, I guess.

There are native honeysuckles in our region, but the non-natives have a huge advantage in having been deliberately and widely planted as ornamentals - those are the ones most often seen and currently in disfavor as they are quite successful invasives.

So nice pictures:) I agree with you that it is a beautiful plant, and the first year leaves are so soft and pretty that sometimes I find it difficult to weed them when they start to grow in a wrong place. I always leave some to grow and flower, and indeed bees like them also here.

Thank you so much for your visit and comment, Leena! I love your blog and have been following for a long time :) Since reading your recent post I've been thinking of finding a place where there is a LOT of mullein growing next year, so I can harvest some without feeling that I'm stealing from the bees. If I make a dyepot, I will post about it and let you know!

Thanks very much, Tammy.I think mullein has been part of the landscape for my entire life, but it's only since there have been individual plants growing where I pass them every day that I've begun to truly SEE them.

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